20141014: Drama Review--Thanks for Sharing

Thanks for Sharing

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. American live action feature length film, 2012, rated R, 112 minutes, drama.
2. IMDB: 6.4/10.0 from 13,008 audience ratings.  Spoken word is in English.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 49% on the meter; 43% liked it from 9,952 audience ratings.
4. Directed by: Stuart Blumberg.  Written by: Matt Winston, Stuart Blumberg.
5. Starring: Tim Robbins as Mike, Joely Richardson as Katie, Patrick Fugit as Danny, Mark Ruffalo as Adam, Gwyneth Paltrow as Phoebe, Josh Gad as Neil,  Pink as Dede, Carol Kane as Roberta.


2. Setup and Plot
1. This is a film about sex addiction.  The intertwined stories of addicts coming out of addiction and trying to help others do the same makes up the whole film.


2. Mike is an addict.  He and his wife Katie have a drug addicted son Danny.  Mike mentors Adam, who in turn mentors Neil.  Roberta is Neil's abusive mother, and Phoebe becomes Adam's girlfriend.


3. Mike's commitment to helping fellow addicts brings friction with Katie, but eventually helps (somewhat) with his son Danny.  Danny needs his time too, but Mike takes too long to prioritize his wife and son.  Phoebe hits the roof when she discovers Adam is a sex addict.  Neil tries hard to keep people from finding out, but has failures.  He helps Dede when her sponsor does not respond; she helps him in return.


4. The slow slogging threads continue to the end of the film.  No one's life is easy, and there are hitches and glitches along the way.


5. Will any of these addicts find release?


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: The tough road to getting out of addictions.
2. Six of ten.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 5/10 Uninspiring.


2. Sound: 6/10 The actors were audible, but the sound track alternated between nonexistent and irritatingly badly chosen.


3. Acting: 7/10 When Tim Robbins is matched with a master class director (say Robert Altman in The Player, 1992 or Frank Darabont in The Shawshank Redemption, 1994) he can deliver fine performances.  This time, not so much.  Gwyneth Paltrow did not seem to have a lot to work with here, either.  The same applies to Mark Ruffalo.  I rather liked the cast, but the screenplay was not all that good at using their talent.


4. Screenplay: 5/10 The picture detailed a lot of the nitty gritty bad times that addicts often go through to help each other dig themselves out of addiction.  That's fine.  However, I saw little in the way of deeper insight into this all too prevalent problem.  I wish Robert Altman had directed.  There might have been some re-writes and exhortation that made a better film.